Definition: official development assistance (ODA) consists of grants and loans at concessional financial terms provided by the official sector to developing countries and with economic development and welfare as the main objective. The ODA comprises both financial flows and the so-called technical assistance. Some contributions to international institutions are also counted as ODA. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of the gross national income (GNI). The statistics on development assistance are compiled according to the rules of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In 2018, the calculation method changed from net disbursements to grant equivalents: so the value of concessional terms of loans is also taken into account. The data come from the OECD and from Eurostat.

Goal: spend 0.7 per cent of the gross national income on official development assistance.

The Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs adopted by the UN in 2015 include target 17.2: "Developed countries to implement fully their official development assistance commitments, including the commitment by many developed countries to achieve the target of 0.7 per cent of ODA/GNI to developing countries and 0.15 to 0.20 per cent of ODA/GNI to least developed countries; ODA providers are encouraged to consider setting a target to provide at least 0.20 per cent of ODA/GNI to least developed countries".

In Belgium the quantitative target of 0.7 per cent is stated in the Act of 19 March 2013 on Belgian development cooperation (Belgian Official Gazette 12/04/2013, article 9).

UN indicator: the selected indicator corresponds to 17.2.1 - Net official development assistance, total and to least developed countries, as a proportion of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee donors’ gross national income (GNI).

Sources

• Belgian Official Gazette: https://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi/welcome.pl?language=fr .